


Remember What the Dormouse Said (Don't Lose Your Head)

by misura



Category: Kong: Skull Island (2017)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 05:49:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14349234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Mills freaks out a bit after the giant spider incident. Coleoffers comforting words of wisdomis Cole.





	Remember What the Dormouse Said (Don't Lose Your Head)

"Hey," Cole said, like everything was normal.

In a way, Mills supposed it kind of was. So he'd almost gotten himself killed, only to have Cole save his ass in the nick of time, so what? Not like that hadn't happened plenty often before.

Mills liked to believe he'd returned the favor a couple of times, but Cole was older and, somehow, luckier, and anyway, several of the other, older guys had told him that when you were a unit, it was no good thinking that way, in terms of someone saving you or you saving someone else.

You either got out alive or you didn't. No point in overthinking things.

No point in freaking out over might-haves, either - which was easier said than done, Mills felt, when the might-have involved a giant spider and tentacles and green goo or pus or whatever Mills had gotten all over him when Cole had put a couple of rounds into the thing before it could - when it had been trying to -

Cole frowned. Probably. It was hard to tell in the half-dark. "You all right?"

"Hey," Mills said. "Not really. I think?" He'd heard stories, back in 'Nam, about guys who'd just suddenly lost it - their nerve, their minds, whatever. One day they'd be fine, normal, and the next, poof. Mad.

Mills might have suspected something like that had happened to Cole, except that Cole had been the way he was pretty much from the get-go. It sort of grew on you, after a while, aside from the part where it didn't, because Cole just wasn't normal.

"Well, you're alive," Cole said. "Got all your limbs, all working, right?"

"Yeah," Mills said. It hadn't occurred to him that the giant spider might have been poisonous. Some of the smaller ones were, though, so why not the bigger-than-a-house one, too?

_Because it doesn't need any poison to kill things to eat?_

"There you go, then," said Cole. "You're all right, Mills. Go get some sleep."

Possibly, that was Cole for 'leave me alone so _I_ can get some sleep'. "I'm freaking out," Mills said, because you never ever said that you were scared. Only pussies got scared. Cowards. People who'd turn their back on their own unit when the going got a little tough. "Why aren't you freaking out, Cole? I almost got made dinner by a huge spider. I got spider goo all over me."

"Yeah," Cole said. "Pity it didn't look edible. We could have had dinner and revenge at the same time."

Mills' stomach roiled at the idea of - "Why you gotta be like that, Cole? Who looks at a spider and thinks of eating it?"

"I dunno, birds?" Cole paused. "Must be some animals eating them. There always are, in nature. Keeps any species from getting too dominant, see?"

Mills told himself that giant birds were less scary than giant spiders. He shivered. He'd washed and scrubbed and used up nearly a week's worth of soap to get the icky spider goo off of him.

"You cold, Mills?" Cole asked. "Want to share blankets? Some sex, maybe? Guess we could do handjobs or something, long as we keep it quiet."

"I - " Mills's thoughts shrieked to a halt. "How can you even - ?"

Cole shrugged. "Just asking."

"I'm cold and freaked out. What part of that suggests to you that I'd want to - "

Cole shrugged again. "Good distraction?" he offered. "But hey, you don't want to, you don't want to. It's all good with me. Only, if you don't want to share bodyheat and you don't want sex, it's not immediately clear to me what I can do for you or help you with this exact moment."

"Maybe I just wanted to talk to someone," Mills said.

"In that case, mind if I catch up on some sleep while you're doing that? I mean, you don't want me to say anything, there's no need for me to actually listen, is there? Like writing a letter to your mom."

Mills's mom was not going to approve of Cole. No matter how many medals he'd won, or how many times he'd saved Mills's life, the moment Cole opened his mouth, he'd become a _persona non grata_ at the Mills household. Possibly even before that.

Mills had been discreet, he thought. Chances were, his mom wasn't even reading his letters anyway. Still, bringing home a white guy wasn't going to go over real good. Nothing to do with Cole.

"What about your mom, Cole?" The one who'd told him about a mouse who'd killed a lion with a thorn.

"She told me to either get home safe and in one piece or to die knowing she was going to be real disappointed in me when they told her I was dead," Cole said. "So I figured, you know, I'd better stay alive. I mean, no man wants to disappoint his momma, do they?"

"That actually sounds nice," Mills said. "Kind of normal. Like something a mom would say."

"Well, she's my mom," said Cole. "So that makes sense."

_Yeah, except that nothing to do with you makes sense, Cole. You, or your freaky mom._ Mills wondered if he was ever going to meet her. It might be nice, he thought. She might be perfectly normal.

She might be as crazy as Cole was, too, but then, Mills had faced a lot of crazy things by now. At least Cole's mom wasn't going to try to kill or eat him. Probably.

"Mine just said not to go and do anything stupid," Mills said.

"Guess you didn't listen real well," said Cole. "I mean, look at where you are."

"Colonel'll see us all home," Mills said, more because he knew Cole believed in the Colonel than because Mills did himself. He believed in Cole and the other guys, though, so that was almost the same thing.

"Dead or alive," Cole agreed. "Count on it. And if he won't, I will. Cross my heart."

Mills decided not to mention that 'alive' was his very much preferred option. If he was dead, what would he care about getting home? He'd be dead, wouldn't he? "Thanks, Cole."

"Don't mention it," Cole said. "Now, you made up your mind yet 'bout what you're up for here? Night's not gonna last forever."

"Cuddling," Mills said.

"Can we call it 'sharing bodyheat'?" Cole asked. "Cuddling makes it sound kind of - you know."

Mills didn't. "Fine."

"You want something extra with that, just say the word. Or not. Either works for me. I'm easy like that. Accommodating."

"You're a great guy and I love you a lot," Mills said.

Cole stiffened for a moment, before he relaxed. "You're all right, too, Mills. Kinda sentimental, but you're basically a decent kid. Got a good heart in you."

Mills decided to let it go. Cole'd saved him from a giant spider. If you went by actions speaking louder than words, that one probably qualified as the biggest, goopiest declaration of love ever. "Thanks, Cole."

"Welcome." Cole put an arm around him - his left one, of course, his right hand resting on his gun.

Mills closed his eyes and went to sleep.


End file.
